Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat

Simon Fraser
11th Lord Lovat
Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat
Tenure1699–1746
PredecessorThomas Fraser, 10th Lord Lovat
SuccessorThomas Fraser, 12th Lord Lovat
Other titles
  • Duke of Fraser
  • Marquis of Beaufort
  • Earl of Stratherrick
  • Viscount of the Aird and Strathglass
  • Lord Lovat of Beaulieu (Jacobite peerage)
Born(1667-01-05)5 January 1667
Died9 April 1747(1747-04-09) (aged 80)
Tower Hill, London, England
Cause of deathExecution by beheading
NationalityScottish
Spouse(s)
  • Amelia Murray (disputed)
  • Margaret Grant (died 1726)
  • Primrose Campbell (1710–1796)
Issue
Parents

Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat (c. 1667 – 9 April 1747, London), nicknamed the Fox (Scottish Gaelic: an t-Sionnach), was a Scottish Jacobite and Chief (Scottish Gaelic: Mac Shimidh Mòr) of Clan Fraser of Lovat, known for his feuding and changes of allegiance.

During the Jacobite rising of 1715, he returned from European exile, raised his clan in support of the House of Hanover, and succeeded in obtaining the restoration in his ownership of the confiscated Lovat estate. By 1729, however, he was secretly and illegally granting freedom of religion to the Catholics of his clan. Even more dangerously, by 1736 at the very latest, Lovat had also opened secret negotiations with the Stuart government in exile and was using the Gaelic war poet Iain Ruadh Stùibhart as an intermediary. During the Jacobite rising of 1745, Lord Lovat first hesitated and made assurances of his loyalty to both sides, but he ultimately committed himself to only one and was among the leaders of the Jacobite Army defeated at the Battle of Culloden.

Afterwards, while in hiding from government troops in Lochaber, he was captured by the Royal Navy after making an ill-timed and extremely high risk visit to have his Confession heard and be received back into the Catholic Church by Bishop Hugh MacDonald at the secret chapel and library upon Eilean Bàn in Loch Morar. Lovat was brought to London, tried before the House of Lords and convicted unanimously of high treason against King George II and sentenced to death. He became the last man in Britain to be beheaded.[1] Although a Scottish Gaelic poem composed before the rising by Fr. John Farquharson, an outlawed Jesuit "heather priest"[2] and Catholic missionary to Clan Fraser, had correctly predicted that Lord Lovat was about to lose his head and would be loathed as a traitor "to both kings",[3][4] Lovat died, in his own eyes, as a Scottish patriot.

An even more immortal but completely uncritical eulogy was composed and published after Lord Lovat's execution by former Jacobite Army officer and Scottish Gaelic national poet Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair.[5][6]

Also since his death, Lord Lovat has appeared as a character in English language novels by John Buchan, Neil Munro, and Andrew Drummond. Lord Lovat, who is the grandfather of central character Jamie Fraser, similarly appears in the second romance novel of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. Lord Lovat is also portrayed onscreen in the television series adaptation by actor Clive Russell.

  1. ^ "Simon Fraser: the last man in Britain to be beheaded". The Scotsman. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  2. ^ "Scalan Ground Floor Plan". www.scalan.co.uk.
  3. ^ Odo Blundell (1909), The Catholic Highlands of Scotland, Volume I, London, pp. 204–205.
  4. ^ "Simon, Lord Lovat's Warning", by Colin Chisholm, The Celtic Magazine, Volume 7, November 1881, pp. 49–52.
  5. ^ Edited by Sgàire Uallas (2020), Aiseirigh: Òrain le Alastair Mac Mhaighstir Alastair, An Clò Glas, West Montrose, Ontario. pp. 84-87.
  6. ^ John Lorne Campbell (1979), Highland Songs of the Forty-Five, Arno Press, New York City. pp. 106-115.